


The gorgon's Refuge

by EdwardHatori



Category: Ancient Greek Religion & Lore
Genre: Gen, Medusa did nothing wrong, Medusa's Myth, mention of rape, mention of violence, myth interpretation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-27
Updated: 2019-06-27
Packaged: 2020-05-20 22:28:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19385842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EdwardHatori/pseuds/EdwardHatori
Summary: "Heavy shadows under her eyes. A bruise on her cheek. Five red marks aligned on each of her shoulders. That was the picture showed by the mirror facing Valoniá. But her empty eyes had stopped caring about it a long time ago, the same way they had stopped caring about the dark furrows running from their corners."Trapped in violence and pain, Valoniá only want to free herself, even if it implies disappearing, or venture into the territory of a terrible monster.





	The gorgon's Refuge

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Le Refuge de la Gorgone](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/493567) by @TheMad666. 



> A little tale inspired by various interpretations of Medusa's myth and also by various posts from Tumblr; Hope you'll like it!
> 
> I'm french, sorry in advance if there are faults ^^ You can point them out, it would help me a lot :)

Heavy shadows under her eyes. A bruise on her cheek. Five red marks aligned on each of her shoulders. That was the picture showed by the mirror facing Valoniá. But her empty eyes had stopped caring about it a long time ago, the same way they had stopped caring about the dark furrows running from their corners. They were only concentrating on the mechanical movements of her hands braiding her flaming hair and fixing the staples on the bright red fabric of her chiton. After adorning herself with a modest gold necklace, she stealthily got out of her room, ignoring the reek of alcohol, the snoring and the throbbing pain piercing her body. Of course, leaving the house before he wakes up would resulting in "reprimands" – as he loved to call them – when she would come back, but waking him so early when he had spent the night drinking at the dicteria would provoke a correction either way; if she had to choose, she would rather have it in the evening, if only to spend a few hours without suffering. She put up her sandals, attentive to any sound that would signal her husband was awake, and leaved the house in hurry.   
There was a time when strolling around the agora was synonym of relief and respite for the young woman; that was gone too. The looks were hooked on the bruises marking her face, her throat, her arms, and even seemed to sense the ones hidden by the crimson linen. She had stopped trying to conceal them all, or trying to be discreet. Beside, she was not the only one. Some girls still hoped to keep it a secret; others, like her, had abandoned this idea. But they all had that shadow veiling their eyes. Putting up a fake smile, she bought some figs and barley bread – she had left without eating – and went to sit down on the edge of an old well near the entry of the city. There, she ate without hunger, her glassy eyes lost in the void. The pain agitating her lower abdomen and her hips had calmed down, only leaving a numb discomfort; however a sudden movement made her wince. He had been hitting and violating her regularly since their marriage two years ago, but he rarely was so brutal. A chill ran down her spine just remembering the night before, and apprehension gripped her by the throat when thinking about what she would go through when returning. For how long could she continue to live like this? For how long could she continue to bear with this? Would she be able to get up the next time? Would not it be better if she just… Disappeared? Thinking about this, she looked at the edge of the woods that was several meters far from the city.  
It was forbidden to venture into the forest. That was a rule the magistrates had repeated again and again, for an obvious reason: those who entered it never came back. Several people – mainly women – had disappeared. The rumor said that a dreadful monster was lurking in the depths of the woods, causing all the disappearances: the terrible gorgon, Medusa. Everyone knew the legend: she had been violated by Poseidon, god of the oceans, in a temple dedicated to Athena in order to insult his rival. The goddess had directed her wrath on the poor woman in the form of an awful curse: black snakes in place of hair, bronze hands, wild boar tusks and the power of petrifying whoever cross her eyes. Since then, she was feared by both gods and mortals. Yet Valoniá was less scared by the idea of meeting the creature than the one of face her husband again. That was why, instead of obediently going back to the cage He called their home, she was wandering between the trees, sinking deeper and deeper inside the dark forest. As she was advancing, the nature became more dense; the sun could only pierce the roof of leaves in scarce places, the wide trunks gave a feeling of an enclosed space and thick bushes of thorns scratched her legs, tearing the fabric of her clothes.  
As she was trying to unhook a bramble branch hooked on her thigh, the young woman stumbled and fell in a lower part of the forest.

"-Are you alright?"

The sweet voice that arose made her open her eyes. Scratches and more bruises were added up to the marks already on her body and her outfit was in a pitiful condition, but it didn't seemed that she had any serious injury.

"-Yeah, I think…" she answered, raising her head.

The woman facing her was wearing an elegant purple chiton with golden embroideries pulled up at the level of her knees and had a bow and a quiver filled with arrows on her back; she was leaning toward her, offering her a hand with a soothing smile. However, Valoniá couldn't hold a gasp when she noticed the more "peculiar" features of the unknown woman: the hand reaching her was made of bronze instead of flesh, tusks were pointing out on each side of her mouth, she was blindfolded and a multitude of snakes as black as the night madly wiggling were acting as her hair. The young woman was aware that the person standing in front of her was Medusa, though she didn't feel any fear. The latter seemed like she was inspecting her with her eyes -even though blindfolded- and detailing her bruises; yet it didn't seem judgmental like the people from the city, and more with worry and anger, as showed by her frown. But her soothing smile appeared once again and, after helping the young woman getting up, dragged her gently with her.

"-What's your name?" the gorgon asked with her sweet voice.  
"-…Valoniá."  
"-You're lucky I found you, you know? Dangerous wild animals live in this part of the forest."

The young woman was led to an imposing stone wall covered with ivy. With her bronze hand, Medusa opened the leaf curtain, revealing a passage between the rocks, and invited Valoniá to go in. On the other side, a scenery worthy of the Elysian Fields was waiting for her: it was a big clearing, circled by the rocky massif, in which was located a village of wooden houses; on one side, a little pond alimented by a spring coming out of a hole in the stone. On the other side, a large vegetable garden. The path from the secret entrance to the village was bordered by fig trees and olive trees. The clearing, separated of the forest by the stone walls, was bathed by the sun rays. And above all, the village seemed to only be populated by women; furthermore, she could recognize most of them as the ones supposedly disappeared from the city. The young woman was speechless, not sure if she was dreaming or not. Behind her, Medusa called two girls who were gathering fruits:

"-Cassandra, Penelope, could you take care of our new friend, please?"

Both nodded enthusiastically and dragged a completely stupefied Valoniá along to treat her wounds and change her clothes.

After an ointment was applied on each of her bruises, her arms were bandaged and she was given a pale blue chiton, the young woman found Medusa again on the village place.

"-You see, my child, you're not the first one who wished to escape from the violence of her spouse. Women like you come to seek a shelter in these woods from all the surrounding cities. I offer my help to those women in distress by inviting them in this place where they can live sheltered and without fear. I offer you this same invitation; of course you're free to leave if you thinks you can find your place elsewhere, but if you wishes to stay by our side, you're welcome in my Refuge!"

Under the luminous sun rays, the serpentine hair's black scales of the gorgon were iridescent, reflecting all the colors of the rainbow; and with her welcoming smile, she looked more like a benevolent goddess than a monster. Facing so much kindness, and this promise of a peaceful future, the emerald of her eyes regained its brilliance and warm tears rolled on the cheeks of Valoniá as she accepted the offer, a sincere smile stretching for the first time in forever on her face.

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked the story, don't hesitate to leave a comment and share it please!


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